Do you support amendment?

[dbjork6317]

The President has proposed an amendment to the constitution to limit/eliminate Presidential immunity. There’s no official language yet, but per the White House it would “state that the Constitution does not confer any immunity from federal criminal indictment, trial, conviction, or sentencing by virtue of previously serving as President.”

Personally, I’d support this (pending the official language) and struggle to understand why Americans wouldn’t want the President to be able to be held legally accountable. So, do you support it? And if not, why not? And let’s see if we can make our arguments here without specifically referencing Biden/Trump/Harris/2024 election. This is bigger than that and would obviously have an impact on the rule of law long after 2024.

Biden also proposed term limits for Supreme Court justices, and I’ve long been on record for supporting term limits across the board, for judges and congress.

 

[scotchtiger]

I think if it is for actions outside of fulfilling his presidential duties, then yes. You should not be immune for actions completely unrelated to the presidency when you are no longer president.

 

[okclem]

The president should be no more immune to the law than anyone else.

 

[dbjork6317]

I think if it is for actions outside of fulfilling his presidential duties, then yes. You should not be immune for actions completely unrelated to the presidency when you are no longer president.

This is pretty in line with the Supreme Court ruling, that the President is immune from prosecution for “official acts” but doesn’t really define what an official act is or isn’t, leaving an awful lot of room for interpretation with the court giving itself all of the power to do the interpreting on a case by case basis.

I can see such an argument being needed for issues dealing with national security, and surely we wouldn’t want the President prosecuted if, for example, a civilian was accidentally killed in an otherwise necessary military action the President ordered. Beyond those scenarios, I struggle to come up with scenarios where the President would have a need/reason for immunity, I don’t know what other “official acts” would require the President to, potentially, act outside of the law.